Q&A: Highstreet Ethics
Sam Maher works for Labour behind the label a workers rights campaign that supports trade unions in garment producing countries. Labour behind the label recently published a report ‘Lets clean up fashion’ which surveyed the production chain and working conditions of UK high street retailers. I met up with Sam to discuss the finding of the report,
What’s the current global situation with garment workers and the conditions they work in?
“There are millions of garment workers in every corner of the world and what unite them are the appalling conditions that they work in. They work for long hours at very low pay; they can suffer from abuse and have poor health and safety conditions. The main problem is they aren’t able to work together to demand for change in their own work place.”
Are UK retailers doing enough to improve working condition in garment factories?
“I think we would say there isn’t a single brand that is doing anywhere near as much as they should be in terms of workers rights. Many retailers say they don’t have the resources to look into working conditions down their supply chain. We say that there’s no real reason why they can’t if they have resources for quality control and managing lead times.”
What would you like to see retailers do to improve workers’ rights?
At the very minimum they need to have written commitments upholding workers standards in their contracts. They also need work with more local organisations on the ground that really know what is going on in the factories so they know.
Does Labour behind the label believe the consumer has the power to make a change by boycotting unscrupulous brands?
“No we never ask for boycotts. The first problem with them is you can’t say one company is worse than any other company, as in one given factory that we monitor there will be five or six retailers producing from there.
“Secondly it’s the workers ultimately that will lose their jobs and they are very vulnerable. If a factory closes down over night because of boycott then that isn’t a victory for us.”
So is there anything that the consumer can do to help garment workers achieve better working conditions?
“We know that consumer awareness and action can open up space for workers to organise and raise their voices. So it’s more about consumers here being aware, brands concern about their reputation and those two things together will create that space for workers to get their voices heard.”